TAMTAM has
recently begun working to fight malaria in
Malawi
through its collaboration with Partners in
Health, a
U.S.
based non-profit organization that is building medical facilities and
primary health care programs in the southwestern district of Neno.
Malawi is one of the poorest and most densely-populated countries in
Africa. The health care system in Malawi is so strained by diseases such
as HIV and malaria that life expectancy is just 41 years. Neno district
is an extremely impoverished and rural district of roughly 140,000
people, so remote from the nearest city that resources such as bed nets
to prevent malaria rarely reach this region. It is estimated that nearly
40% of the population of Neno suffered from malaria in 2007 and that
fewer than 13% of the groups most vulnerable to malaria
(pregnant women, children under 5 and HIV positive patients)
have bed nets.
TAMTAM is currently raising money to provide
bed nets to the district hospital and local health clinics that Partners
in Health operates in Neno. The nets will be distributed through the
prenatal ward, pediatric ward and to HIV positive patients, in an effort
to prevent malaria among the groups most vulnerable to death and
disability from this disease. We have already donated nearly 7,000 bed
nets and hope to donate another 20,000 by the end of 2008. TAMTAM has
made a special arrangement to purchase long-lasting insecticide-treated
nets for Neno for only $5 per net. Every $5 donated will go directly
toward the purchase of a bed net for a family in Malawi. This
straightforward goal of purchasing a bed net to each young child and
vulnerable family will go a long way toward transforming the lives of
the residents of Neno. We hope you can help us!
